Battle of Frichermont

The Battle of Frichermont (18 June 1815) was a sub-battle of the Battle of Waterloo. After driving off a Prussian attack on Placenoit, the French also faced 50,000 Prussian troops under General Gebhard von Blucher. The Prussians, led by General Blucher himself, launched a cavalry charge against Georges Mouton's cavalry, but the end result was a costly French victory.

Background
While 72,000 French and 68,000 Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian troops engaged at the Battle of Waterloo at the towns of Hougoumont and La Haye-Sainte, Prussian general Gebhard von Blucher marched north with 50,000 Prussian troops to join up with the British army. His army was intercepted at Placenoit and defeated by General Georges Mouton's corps, but as the French failed to break the British line at the strategic locations, France had less troops to commit to fighting the Prussians.

Battle
General Blucher led two regiments of cavalry in a charge on the remaining French troops under Napoleon, who watched as the two sides' artillery dueled and as his infantry retreated. Blucher's charge met the French cavalry and a general melee ensued. The elderly Blucher was wounded in the swordfighting and his aide Dennis Haselberger was killed, and the Prussian cavalry attack driven off. However, in the ensuing hours, the Prussian infantry engaged the French, who fled in droves when they found out that the British had captured their artillery and wounded Napoleon.